Shooters gonna shoot. And Gary Land is a shooter. He’s an OG East Coast degenerate-turned-snowboard-photographer who eventually pivoted to high-profile photography and directing commercials for clients including Apple, Bose and Nike, including one that aired during the Super Bowl. So to get back to the sports metaphor and expand some: You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. 

Thing is, Gary isn’t really into mainstream sports. He’ll tell you he hates them.  Ironically enough, he grew up in a house in Virginia Beach, VA, that was basically a sports bar. It was filled with wall-to-wall TVs broadcasting any and every game-of-the-day, all day, every day. Baseball, basketball, hockey, horse races—all of it, all the time. Gary’s dad was a bookie. As in someone who facilitates gambling. Like DraftKings.com, but a human, his dad. 

“He was a shady individual, but a good guy,” Gary says.

There’s lots of fodder for some psychoanalysis here, but setting that aside, let’s just say Gary wasn’t vibing on all those mainstream games. Instead he turned to skateboarding, surfing and, eventually, snowboarding…

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In spring 1995 I was on assignment for K2 Snowboarding shooting their East Coast team. We had chosen Killington,VT, because there was still a ton of snow. We were sessioning this kicker near the Viper’s Pit when, to my surprise and stoke, Pete Brinkerhoff and Jeff Moran pulled off the sweetest doubles-line methods.